Things have been quite chaotic ever since our delivery kitchen opened a few weeks back. The remote location of our house combined with multiple, hectic schedules ensures we sometimes don’t have even the staples of a normal meal at home at times. Given the unorganised state of our household these days and the poor levels of inventory, we found ourselves without rice, oil, flour or vegetables one late evening. The only substantial things I could find were some flour, potatoes and other assorted stuff.

Did I mention we’ve stopped stocking up on meats of late? Don’t know what to blame this tendency on, but I’ve started preferring vegetables and vegetarian food for most part, and don’t really miss my dose of dead animals. In part, I think I could blame this on Anand Wells of The Green Smoothie Challenge fame. I’m connected to him on Facebook and many of his updates are about the various diets he’s trying out, most of which (if not all) are composed of raw fruits and vegetables. Though I haven’t yet graduated to his level (raw food, water diets etc) of health consciousness and discipline, the effects are beginning to show. Ever since we’ve reduced our intake of meats, my sugar levels are closer to normal than ever before (280 fasting earlier, and 122 now) and I’ve lost about 4 kilos too. Quite encouraging.

Okay, so a meal full of simple carbs and starch doesn’t really help my diabetes, WTH.

Anyhow, so here goes. You’ll need about a kilo of potatoes, 2 egg yolks (beaten), 1.5 cups of flour and some salt for the gnocchi. You’ll also want some finely chopped coriander and garlic, butter and parmesan cheese for the twist.

Did you know the best way to ‘boil’ potatoes is to bake them? Actually, that might not be a very accurate statement. Thing is, when you want to make a light mixture with potatoes, boiling may not be the best thing, as the potatoes absorb too much water, which makes the mixture rather heavy. I suggest baking them in their skins or steaming them instead, with boiling being a last resort. If you do want to boil them, boil till they’re just done and quickly take them out of the water and peel ASAP, so they don’t absorb water.

Grate the potatoes into a bowl (or mash with a fork) and mix with the flour, egg yolks and a bit of salt. Knead until the dough is workable. Additional kneading isn’t needed for gnocchi dough. Dust your work area with some flour and roll the dough out into a cylindrical shape, with a diameter slightly less than an inch. When that’s done, cut the cylinder in 1 inch pieces, making a slight indent with your finger in each piece, if you intend to use pasta sauce. Boil some salted water and carefully drop the gnocchi into the water, one piece at a time. They’ll sink initially and rise to the surface when cooked. As soon as they do so, take then out with a perforated spoon, drain well and arrange on a dish. Repeat for all the gnocchi.

Now for the twist. Melt the butter in a pan and add the garlic. Gently fry the garlic and drizzle the entire mixture over the gnocchi. Sprinkle some coriander over the top, finishing with a sprinkle of parmesan or grana padano cheese.

It turned out quite delicious and was filling as well.

- Sid